June 2019: Miyajima, Japan

It’s the first day of the month and that means I’ve updated the header image at the top of this website. For the month of June I’m featuring a photo of the famous floating torii gate of Miyajima, Japan. I took this photo on a very wet, rainy morning back in 2017 during my journey across Japan and Korea. After spending two nights in nearby Hiroshima, I took a ferry out to the island of Miyajima, whose name translates to “shrine island.” The island, which is officially called Itsukushima, is known as Miyajima because of its association with the Itsukushima Shrine that is home to the floating torii gate in this month’s photo. At low tide you can walk out to the gate and stand right next to it but in the late afternoon the tide starts coming back in and by nightfall it is completely surrounded by water. Miyajima also has a number of other attractions besides the Itsukushima Shrine but unfortunately for me the weather was not good while I was there so I didn’t see too much else on the island. For the full story of my short time on Miyajima you can read my travelogue post titled Miyajima: The Floting Torii.